Are You One of 23,000 Defendants in the US' Biggest Illegal Download Lawsuit?

reply to post by hawkiye


You`re very correct .
www.techdirt.com...

The best part of all this lost money nonsense is that bands that got big during the 90s did so by providing their music free over the internet, ie Korn, Limp Bizkit, etc.

Even today, independent artists like Immortal Technique make hand over fist providing their music free of charge and even telling people to rip it off the net.

Anyone remember Guitar Hero? All the bands that allowed their music to be used in that game saw a revival in sales. People heard the songs, ripped them, then inevitably bought the old albums. Meanwhile, Led Zepplin and some others that couldn't be bothered missed out and were passed over by these new fans.

What is happening here is something that everyone may be aware of, it's called "supply and demand". People today see little reason to drop 20$ for a CD when they can rip it for free and see the band in concert. This irritates the labels because they've always had a strangle hold on pricing. Now thanks to the internet, they do not.

These court cases and these complaints is just an industry seeing its death looming over the horizon not wanting to adapt to new market conditions.

And Xcath, bud, I disagree with you here. This isn't stealing and even if it was why are the real pirates, the ones making multi-million dollar profits in southeast asia, not being actively pursued with same intensity? Because they've pushed the burden off on INTERPOL?

Come on brother, reason with me, if you have a cool painting and I take a picture of it so that I have a copy who have I robbed? If I take a pic and then start printing it to create a profit that is another story. Not too mention that we run into the innocent until proven guilty issue here, lets say one of my IPs is on the list: How then do they prove that I didn't already own a copy that was purchased legally?

All this BS surrounding piracy is obviously just a monopolized industry calling for government intervention to protect their profits at the expense of the economy on the whole. Anyone that can not see that needs to seriously reevaluate their current paradigm.

They are using the facade of morality to use in their own favor even though their true purpose is very dishonest and a complete fabrication to cover their true purposes, which is to use the false assumption that everyone that downloaded and watched it actually caused them financial losses..

This is purposely done so they can cook their books to show that that entire list of IP's represents lost revenue and then they use those figures to calculate a huge loss which becomes a huge TAX DEDUCTION....

The entire entertainment industry has spawned a secondary multibillion dollar cottage industry around this whole thing which is based on the same thing as the federal reserve bank FIAT money, or money from thin air based on all of that so called "lost revenue"

Everything in commerce has been protected just like this in similar ways to create larger government , more legislation, etc, etc.... just like the war on drugs is another very good example of this ponzi scheme..

reply to post by someonesaint


I'm going to say this.... if i plug in a wireless net card technically i'm obtaining all my information from thin air. It moves through and around us everyday. Whether these people were going to buy it or not isn't relevant. the bigger picture is they only lose out on maybe 1000's of dollars that they may or may not of even made to begin with vs the millions they make. movie or music.

If you were standing above someone pouring water into a glass from a pitcher and it overflowed and the person below grabbed a cup to catch the overflowing water from below would you care if they had a little of the water? Or would you get upset that more than you could keep track of, and get mad at the guy that made use of your carelessly placed property? If i have so much that i cant keep track of it all, then who am i to keep people from making use of or enjoying it. Otherwise its just waste imo. Not saying whether im for or against downloading. It would be nice if people were allowed to just live. Why so many rules. Does living require so many guidelines really?

I don't know about the States, but here in Australia we have very limited movies showing at the theatre.
Most of the other stuff that goes straight to DVD in the States, we often DON'T GET AT ALL.
Not every movie available to torrent is available to BUY LEGALLY in different parts of the world.

So how can you be ripping these companies off for loss of a product that they haven't supplied and doesn't exist?

People should learn how to protect themselves better in the first place if they really have to download copyright materials.. Like "Peerblocker" and firewalls and also by not using public torrent websites...

You know those things work when you see outgoing and incoming connections from RIAA blocked and connections from SONY blah blah blocked etc, etc...

The above program isn't just used for that purpose though, it can block anyone not personally authorized by you to connect to your network.... I certainly never gave my permission for the RIAA to see any activity on my computer, so I take premptive action and just block them all beforehand as a countermeasure to THIER unauthorized attempts at using my bandwidth just to support their vigilante agendas..

Also, they do that to masses and attempt to monitor people they don't have authorization to connect to in order to confirm or deny that that person is doing anything wrong...

What would happen if regular joes and janes started connecting to the RIAA's servers or SONY entertainments network in order to see what kinds of nefarious things they do? The FBI would be at your door the same day

Of course unlawful monitoring by a sham operation like the RIAA is fine and the FBI doesn't mind them breaking laws, or even SONY Entertainment's rogue operations of trying to infiltrate people and their computers to collect confirmation or denial of that person doing something wrong., but do it to them and it is touted as a class C Felony or worse...

Just you wait, the jackboots will be kicking in doors and hauling people away in handcuffs when it is social acceptable to do so.

reply to post by maestromason


If they thought they were losing money before,watch what happens when that is implemented...........



Ive went to a concert where the band got up on stage and said "How many of you people illegally downloaded our music?" The band actually said thank you!

The crowd went crazy of course. Didnt stop those who downloaded,from buying their tickets,merchandise,and CD's,that they had for sale.

Same goes for movies.Many people buy the original movies,after they have downloaded it,or watched it from some streaming site. Quality movies ALWAYS make their money. Can you get sued for borrowing a friends copy of the Expendables? Can you get sued for watching a friends copy of the Expendables? Can you get sued for downloading X amount of a torrent,and deciding the Expendables movie wasnt worth the time and effort,and stop downloading? Hmmmmm

reply to post by SmokeandShadow


That's why American's have the 2nd Amendment.

The reason music,movie,manga companies loss money and there respected earned profits it isnt because of file download users, but the outlook of the economy of course there CEOs of there respected companies would allways put the blame on someone else for there company loss of profits.

Everyone has a right to download stuff for not everything in life should be all about money, when money becomes worthless, what then of those companies CEOs?


Remember the economy crisis started in the early 90s and still going on now.

Originally posted by TheMaverick
i pay for my internet,therefore i download...regardless.

i don't care if these mega media corporation profits are down..

My argument exactly...I pay for my internet connection therefore I am entitled to have unlimited, unrestricted "Free" content! nuff said...My ISP should pay 1-2% of MY internet cost to these corporations, If need be.

At the end of the day if an IS Provider calls anyone out as being an "illegal" file sharer/downloader, and that person goes to court, then the IS Provider is going to lose alot of unhappy customers! So they have alot to lose, which is why I am confident that I can download anything I God damn like

Also do these poor poor producers who whinge about "losing money", realize that if I hadn't have downloaded thier film and told my family and friends how good it was, then my family and friends almost definately wouldn't have bothered thier arses going to see it at the cinema? Without us "Pirates" they probably woudn't make as much as they do these days, with the recession and that! Should be worshipping us with approval if anything!

Edit: I lent a DVD to my friend the other night, he didn't pay to watch it...Should he be sued? Should I be sued for sharing?

What about people who buy a DVD, get fed up with it, and then sell it on to a friend, would that be more of a crime since I profited?

Wow, only 23,000 people being sued over 'The Expendables'. I'm pretty sure way more people downloaded it. Hell, you don't even have to download movies anymore. People post them all on megavideo and free to watch. I admit, I'm a terroristic downloader. Downloading things I have no rights to be downloading due to copyrights and what not, but I'm above the law and enact the patriot act to take such materials to protect our freedom.

I personally believe copyrights are a joke. You can even turn it around on them to the judge or jury. All you simply have to do is say, "God created all these people therefor they have no copyrights!"

Just my thoughts. I know weird and unconventional.

reply to post by PsykoOps


correct!

and it isnt just media. the monsanto gene pool comes to mind.

Copyright BS makes me sick.

This is what they want to do.

Example, Expendables, they will make tens or hundreds of million dollars first year.

Second year they will get about 10 million dollars.

But 100 years from now, they still have copyright.

1000 years from now they still have copyright and are making money on BS movie.

10 billion years from now, they still want to earn money on BS movie Expendables, because they claim they have copyright. That is one big BS.

And thats with everything. GMO food is copyrighted, patents that can help and change world are copyrighted on a way that only few benefits. 10 billion years from now, they still want to collect money for that copyright.

If you are ok with that policy, then you are dumb.

**
Not only you are dumb, but you are selfish and you dont help humanity in any way, on contrary, you are human enemy and aggressor. Humanity is sick of people that claims copyright until the end of time.

It is not like you have copyright for few years and then it is free for humanity to use it, no no, you have copyright until world ends and until last human dies. Im sick of that policy.

Originally posted by Xcathdra

Originally posted by RelentlessLurker
reply to post by Xcathdra

 

duplicating is not stealing.

when i steal something from you, you no longer have it.

When you steal something that I created, or have the property rights to, then it is stealing. Duplicating something that you arent authorized to have in the first place is in fact, stealing.

For each copy you make and distribute, its a seperate count.

I am positive if you and other created something that cost millions of dollars, and others decide to steal it and distribute it, forcing you to lose out on the fruits of your creation, you would be upset as well.

Well said! it is stealing guys and you really can't argue against it. Yes it may be over priced ($25+ to watch a movie with some popcorn and drinks!?) but its there property and they can charge what ever they want and if someone is STEALING then they have a right to take them to court and seek justice.
Now i will admit that downloading Movies, music, etc. takes out the danger of actually say going into a store and taking something. Theres no risk so people will do want they want if there are no consequences. so you feel like its ok but its not at the end of the day its still stealing

Edit: BTW everyone using tor to download illegal content from P2P is just abusing the volunteer network and slowing it down for everyone who isnt a thief...
And those lists that block the RIAA have you ever thought that the RIAA can also change there IP?
might not like what i have to say but its the truth I might not agree with There greed but it is the law. Didn't god say to follow the law of your country (paraphrasing off course)

Originally posted by thatonedude
What if someone owned a legal dvd of the expendables and downloaded it for a digital copy?That doesn't make them a thief does it? I though that was legal.What a horrible travesty of a movie anyway.

edit on 10-5-2011 by thatonedude because: (no reason given)

if your on the list just go buy the movie from a shop..im sure its in the bargin bin.. as you said your allowed to have back ups if you own the orginal....

Well, suppose I go out and buy a new DVD of a recent released movie. Say I watch it a bunch of times, show it to my friends, and loan it out a few times. did I break the law? No. Say that then I upload the movie to a torrent site so others can download and watch it. It was my property after I paid for it, it is still my property when I upload it, and then anyone can download it. Where is the law broken here? I can do with my own property whatever I wish to, and that including uploading to anywhere I wish.

reply to post by Bixxi3


what are we stealing if we were never going to buy it in the first place?

they make the same amount of money in the end.

can you give a reason other than just repeating "its stealing"? what was stolen exactly? how can duplication ever be theft? they are fundamentally opposite!

the industry is free to attempt to secure their material in any way they see fit.

if they cannot do that, it is their own incompetence to blame.

en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by fatdad


You don't even have to go that far, they are claiming you stole it and so have to prove you didn't purchase it in the first place. How do they plan on doing that? By showing sales figures? How do you know these 23k people aren't the ones who bought it?

This whole thing is a giant joke!